More work-life balance needed

[MotherBear]

More work-life balance needed
5:00AM Sunday October 21, 2007
By Nicola Shepheard

Work-life balance - or the lack of it - will be on many people's minds this long weekend. And one expert says that despite recent policies, New Zealand has a way to go before achieving it.

AUT public policy professor Marilyn Waring, who co-edited a new book on the topic, Managing Mayhem, told the Herald on Sunday "there's a great deal of rhetoric but not a huge amount of delivery".

Labour minister Ruth Dyson said recent government moves making it easier to juggle work and life included introducing four weeks annual leave, 14 weeks paid parental leave and 20 hours free early childhood education.

Labour also supports Green MP Sue Kedgley's Flexible Working Arrangements bill, which would allow parents, guardians and people looking after an adult dependent to apply for flexible working hours. Employers would have grounds for declining a request if it would create serious problems for their business.

More here .

[KiwiHopeful]

That's really kind of funny. Whenever I'm out mountain biking at noon on a Tuesday afternoon, I see lots of other middle-aged guys riding around. If anything, they probably need a little more work in their work-life balance.

Seriously, this is exactly the kind of thing I love about NZ. In the US, you see the occasional story about this, but no one ever seems to do anything about it. GDP is king, so we gotta keep the working stiffs slaving away ...